I can see, with the advent of trains, a vampire society that perhaps is a few towns in size, given the speed, but two continents? No.
Secondly, there are bound to be numerous splinter societies developing. When one decides they need more power in their unlife and gets it.
There should be no real Camarilla, but a small, well, baronies of vampires living within boarders that our a night's travel.
Prearranged safehouses. An old tower. An abandoned church. A long lost castle, forgotten in the woods or an old cave can serve as shelter, for a vampire that knows where they are.
Also, vampires are more concerned with their unlife, than anything else. They are very selfish creatures and any society would be for the benefit of its founder, making a large network difficult.
Um...White Wolf may have picked up Raveloft for 3.x, but they don't have the license anymore. So no RL-V:TM crossbreeds (which we should thank the gods of gaming for).However, I will continue along the course of the OP, being a big World of Darkness fan.
The Camarilla is facilitated by not only vampires but their mortal thralls, slaves and lackeys so the travel and communication issues are not as large a problem as you make it seem. Also the Camarilla only really gained a strong cohesion when communication became quicker. Vampire: The Masquerade was a modern game and took into account instantaneous world wide communication. Now, such an organization still seems flawed and problematic and I feel I should point out that no such organization exists in the new game. I have been a fan of White Wolf's World of Darkness games for well over ten years now and I think the new games are far superior to the old ones. The system is smoother and the world is easier to understand. However, Vampire: The Requiem doesn't loose anything that made the old game cool.
But Ravenloft players.
So, most vampires in D and D styled games have their soul taken from them in the "embrace" or at least in my opinion. Much like the Angel and Buffy series vampires with the exception of the cursed Angel and Spike, who deserved his soul back in the end.
I will always be a fan of Vampire the Masquerade, since it was the first role playing game I was introduced to so long ago and I use a lot of influence from it in both playing and DM'ing.
R.I.P Vince, my friend and GM.
...
Have you considered a job with mainstream TV news talk shows? ;)
Also, welcome to the Ravenloft forums!
Oh come on! We all know everyone was looking forward to the inevitable Strahd - Sascha Vykos battle. It would've made "Freddie vs. Jason" look like a playground scuffle! :P
Sascha Vykos
Who? :D
Who? :D
*shakes head in shame* :P
Or indeed anything in the first post of this thread.
I guess this is where the expression "lost the thread" comes from ;)
Who? :D
You're right, I'm sorry. This would be in the "dark ages", wouldn't it? Myca it is then! ;)
And Azalin is obviously a long-suffering, ancient Cappadocian (clearly a forerunner to the affliction later suffered by the Harbingers of the Skulls!)
(ducks and runs for cover)
I guess I need to be more direct in my question: what does ANY of this have to do with Ravenloft? If a WizO is reading this, please, kill this thread and put it out of our--I mean, its misery.
Seconded.
Crazy Whitewolf lovers...
If the kargat can span the entirety of the core, i am sure a Vampire secret society could thrive there as well (This is where the thread becomes DnD relevent: Could a society of vampires hidden amongst the people of the Core survive and prosper?)
If someone wants to create a secret society vampires in their games, fine. It's your game--Rule 0. None of us can tell you what to do. But for most of us on these boards the D&D vampire is just too egotistical and monstrous for it work with others; why share the cattle when you can just charm someone to kill the competition and have it all for yourself?
But for most of us on these boards the D&D vampire is just too egotistical and monstrous for it work with others; why share the cattle when you can just charm someone to kill the competition and have it all for yourself?
Monstrous, surely. More so then most of the Kindred, whom the DnD vampire would energy drain into nothingness with no problem, that's for certain. However, there is a template called the Vampire Lord <3.0>, which implies a leader vampire (to me). So here are a few things to casually consider:
1. Strength in numbers and a unified front against Vampire Hunters like the late and famous Dr. Richten (see also the Vampyres of Falkonovia)
2. Why share the cattle? I don't know but i do know gluttony is not just a vice, it is also a weakness. Regulated feeding cycles may throw off those who would be hunting the hunters. The food supply of the core may or may not be limited, however, based upon your view of the DPs
3. There is always something out there more powerful then you. I'm not saying there is a vampire union (which is what the cammarilla is) out there, but that the likelihood of a vampire alliance (this is more analagous to the Sabbat, btw) in a world of many powerful monsters is more probable in Ravenloft then any other published campaign setting.
Saying vampires in DnD would never work together to their own mutual benefit is ... broad strokes and a little extreme.
But for most of us on these boards the D&D vampire is just too egotistical and monstrous for it work with others; why share the cattle when you can just charm someone to kill the competition and have it all for yourself?
I'm a big fan of a lot of the less Anne Rice-influenced vampire stories (I'm thinking Dracula, 'Salem's Lot, Robert McCammon's They Thirst, etc.) In most of these stories, freshly created vampires are subservient to the vampire that created them, often via some sort of mystical compulsion, and there's an ancient evil vampire with no living creator at the head of the hierarchy. The "head vampire" gets a growing army of perfectly loyal servants to do his bidding in the world. The rank-and-file vampire, in the mean time, doesn't get much say in the matter of association, although an extra body to cover the back door of the farmhouse so that no stray humans get away during those midnight raids is always nice. Think of a group of cunning, well-coordinated predators after blood, like a pack of wolves only wearing the faces of family and loved ones. Gives me the willies.
I guess I always assumed that this hierarchy was the point of the "vampire" and "vampire spawn" templates, although looking at the entries this isn't explicitly stated and the vampire spawn could as easily be a baby vampire that just hasn't matured as one that's really low on the totem pole.
But yeah, rule 0.